Time For Western States To Evict Feds by Chuck Baldwin, April 24, 2014

Time For Western States To Evict FedsBy Chuck BaldwinApril 24,
2014
This column is archived here.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, “It’s time for Western states to take
control of federal lands within their borders, lawmakers and county
commissioners from Western states said at Utah’s Capitol on Friday.
“More than 50 political leaders from nine states convened for the first time
to talk about their joint goal: wresting control of oil-,timber-and mineral-rich
lands away from the feds.
“‘It’s simply time,’ said Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, who organized the
Legislative Summit on the Transfer for Public Lands along with Montana state
Sen. Jennifer Fielder. ‘The urgency is now.’
“Utah House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, was flanked by a dozen
participants, including her counterparts from Idaho and Montana, during a press
conference after the daylong closed-door summit. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee addressed
the group over lunch, Ivory said. New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon
and Washington also were represented.
“The summit was in the works before this month’s tense standoff between
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management over cattle
grazing, Lockhart said.
“‘What’s happened in Nevada is really just a symptom of a much larger
problem,’ Lockhart said.”
See the report here:Western
Lawmakers Gather In Utah To Talk Federal Land Takeover
Now we are getting somewhere!
The western states have been used as both playground and sugar stick for
big-government politicians since before most of the western states became
states. Compare the percentage of State land owned by the federal government in
the western states to that of the eastern states.
Here is the percentage of land owned by the federal government in seven
eastern states:
Illinois: 1.8%
Ohio: 1.7%
Alabama: 1.6%
Maine: 1.1%
New York: 0.8%
Rhode Island: 0.4%
Connecticut: 0.4%
By contrast, here is the percentage of land owned by the federal government
in seven western states:
Wyoming: 42.3%
California: 45.3%
Arizona: 48.1%
Idaho: 50.2%
Oregon: 53.1%
Utah: 57.4%
Nevada: 84.5%
The situation with the Bundys in Nevada highlights the heavy-handed tactics
that the federal government employs against anyone who dares to challenge the
manner in which the feds are attempting to kick hard-working, productive
citizens off of federal lands. Remember that ranchers and farmers such as Cliven
Bundy were promised access to these federal lands in perpetuity back in the
nineteenth century when all of these land deals were being negotiated between
the states and the federal government. Beyond that, ownership of the land by the
federal government was supposed to preserve and protect the land for the people,
not for the federal government.
A few years ago, there were dozens of successful and prosperous ranchers in
the area around the Bundys. But since the BLM was given legislative mandates
when Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) in
1976, Cliven Bundy is now the only rancher in the area still standing.
The BLM has grown into a totalitarian monster.
Today, the BLM regulates hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, boating, hang
gliding, shooting, off-highway vehicle driving, mountain biking, bird watching,
and visiting natural and historical sites. The BLM also regulates logging,
mining, fracking and other activities. What ranchers such as Cliven Bundy are
going through loggers and miners are also experiencing. In fact, it is no
hyperbole to say that, for all intents and purposes, the ranching, logging, and
mining industries in the western states are being systematically regulated out
of existence.
And in the case of Cliven Bundy, it is not about saving the Desert Tortoise
or grazing fees or anything of the sort. It is all about letting fat-cat
politicians such as Harry Reid negotiate lucrative solar energy deals with
Communist China. Hey, folks: if the land doesn’t belong to Cliven Bundy, it
doesn’t belong to Harry Reid, either!
The BLM’s evil twin sister is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
which was established in 1970. These two federal agencies have become the Wicked
Witch of the East and Wicked Witch of the West in what used to be a beautiful
land paved with yellow brick roads.
I dare say that if the eastern states were enduring the haranguing and
harassment that the western states are enduring, the BLM would have been brought
under control years ago. Absent national unity from eastern states on the
matter, it is time for the western states to take matters into their own
hands.
The legislative action being contemplated by the above-mentioned State
legislators who assembled in Salt Lake City last Friday is a terrific first
step. It is absolutely time for the western states to use their eminent domain
authority to reclaim the lands within their borders that are currently owned by
Washington, D.C. With the exception of National Parks, states should serve
notice that they are taking back the land owned by the federal government--land
that should never have been ceded to the central government to begin with.
The second problem that the siege against Cliven Bundy illustrates is the
unconstitutional police powers assumed by federal agencies such as the BLM.
Originally, the only federal agency that was lawfully allowed to make arrests on
behalf of the U.S. government was the U.S. Marshals Service, which was created
back in 1789--the year that the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Today, there are
scores of alphabet agencies of the federal government who carry a badge and a
gun and are allowed to enforce law at bayonet point. And the vast majority of
these agencies are acting on assumed authority--authority not granted them
constitutionally. Among these, there is no greater culprit than the BLM.
“You don’t send the Seventh Cavalry to collect a bill, and that’s exactly
what happened,” Pat Buchanan told Sean Hannity on his radio show last
Monday.
Buchanan went on to say, “And when they put all those forces out there-that’s
what attracted all the others, the history of what happened at Waco, Ruby Ridge.
And so these folks came to that rancher’s defense. But the initial problem here
is [the] sending of all the force of arms out there to that ranch, which was a
provocation to which these folks responded.”
See the report here:Pat
Buchanan Sums Up Nevada Ranch Standoff: Sending ‘Seventh Cavalry To Collect A
Bill’
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, “The powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The Constitution delegates only three crimes to the federal government:
treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. That’s it. No other crimes are mentioned.
That means that all other crimes are the purview of the states--including local
and State police, sheriff’s deputies, and citizen militias and posses.
Of course, the problem is the Congress (and Court) in Washington, D.C., has
used the “Necessary and Proper Clause” of Article. I. Section. 8. to justify all
sorts of federal law enforcement enactments.
The result of this unconstitutional federal expansion of police powers is we
now have scores of federal agencies that are using unchecked and unbridled
power--power that is turning the United States into a giant police state.
The states must push back!
Not only must states reclaim millions of acres of land within their borders
that are now controlled by the federal government, they must also pass
legislation requiring federal bureaucracies such as the BLM to obtain the
consent of county sheriffs in order to execute arrest warrants. States must make
it clear in unmistakable terms that only the U.S. Marshals Service may execute
federal warrants within their states; otherwise, only the county sheriff is
authorized to execute arrest warrants within their states.
Furthermore, the U.S. Congress needs to disarm the countless federal
bureaucracies that are currently terrorizing the American people. In truth, very
few federal agencies need to carry guns. The politicians in Washington, D.C.,
love to try to disarm the American people, but the ones they should be disarming
are most of the federal alphabet agencies.
Why do employees of the federal Department of Education need to carry guns?
Why do postal employees need to carry guns? Why do agents of the BLM need to
carry guns? Why do employees at NASA need to carry guns? Why do employees of the
EPA need to carry guns? Why do employees at NOAA need to carry guns? Why do
employees of the National Weather Service need to carry guns? Why do employees
of the Social Security Administration need to carry guns? Why do employees at
the Department of Agriculture need to carry guns? Why do employees of the
National Marine Fisheries Service need to carry guns?
Ladies and gentlemen, law enforcement is mostly the responsibility of State
and local governments. Why are so many federal bureaucracies carrying guns?
Agencies of the federal government are not soldiers; and they are not even
policemen. Furthermore, the American people are not the enemy!
Pat Buchanan is right: had not BLM agents marched onto the Bundy ranch like
Nazi Stormtroopers, none of the events that are still playing out in the Nevada
desert would have taken place. The memory of Waco and Ruby Ridge are still very
vivid in the collective memory of the people of the United States. If anything
burns deep in our collective conscience, it is that THERE MUST NEVER AGAIN BE
ANOTHER WACO OR RUBY RIDGE. And that is exactly why those Americans have put
themselves between the federal government and the Bundy family down in
Bunkerville, Nevada.
The events in Salt Lake City, Utah, conducted by dozens of legislators from
the western states last Friday were as monumental as the events in Bunkerville,
Nevada, conducted by the citizen militia the previous Saturday.
Free and independent states and “We the People” have always been the
guardians of liberty in this land. And if freedom is going to be preserved for
our posterity, it is going to take the combined effort of both the individual
sovereign states and individual citizens to arise and stand in the gap once
again. It would also seem that the rise has already begun. Praise God! The only
thing missing now is the patriot pulpit.
P.S. I have been inundated with requests from pastors and laymen alike to
help them establish non-501c3, unaffiliated, unorganized, unincorporated
churches. I have heard their pleas; and I have a very important announcement
regarding this matter coming in the very near future. Stay tuned.

Friday, April 18, 2014

A) 200 armed Federal agents show up to a tortoise dispute. B) Nobody bothers to patrol BLM land looking for illegal aliens. C) Meanwhile, people are losing jobs, insurance, homes and freedoms to an overreaching government. The moral of the story? This ain't about cows and turtles; it's about liberty. Up next is a rousing game of cowboys and tyrants.

Friday, April 11, 2014

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Uncle Jeb (Bush) validates illegal immigration by calling it an "act of love." Whatever; he's a squish. If we play the game "let's say I break into your house", how tolerant would Joe America be of my illegal residency? Sure I like your stuff, I even love it. But is that justification for my illegal entry? Part 3 of 3 on our Biblical immigration policy. Sorry Uncle Jeb. Aunt Nancy, you're next.